


Close Call

by arcadian88



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adventure, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22150903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcadian88/pseuds/arcadian88
Summary: How his friends found out about his "furry little problem".
Kudos: 1





	Close Call

“How about taking a trip to Hogsmeade?” Sirius said in Charms class as he banished a throw pillow toward the intended target box. It was fifth year and their O.W.Ls were only two weeks away so Flitwick had written up a list of spells to practice for the rest of the class.

“Like this afternoon?” Remus asked confusedly as he performed a counter charm on his teapot. Didn’t Sirius remember what was happening tonight, what happened every month.

Remus recalled that it had only been two moons since his friends had joined him and felt a twinge of worry that perhaps Sirius no longer liked the idea of hanging out with the werewolf version of him anymore.

“No,” said Sirius leaning in. “I mean let’s take a trip to Hogsmeade _tonight_.”

Remus understood him at once.  
“I don’t think that’s a good id-”

“I think that’s a marvelous idea Padfoot.” said James leaning forward between Remus and Sirius.

“Me too.” came a quiet voice behind Remus’ head. Peter was next to James in the row behind and had been practicing the silencing charm on a frog, however it seemed that he had accidentally silenced himself and just now was the charm wearing off.

“Ha three against one, Remus, you’ve been out voted.” grinned Sirius and summon the throw pillow back which hit him in the face.

“Fine.” Remus said and rolled his eyes. He felt both worried about the risk they were taking by going into town and excited by the prospect of his friends being with him again.

Remus watched as James made his teacup stealthily creep up Sirius’ arm while Peter tried to copy on the other side. Looking at Sirius’ handsome profile he remember that Sirius had been the one to first discover his furry little secret.

********************************************************* (flashback)

After dinner Remus took a roundabout way to the hospital wing. He opened the door and Madam Pomfrey greeted him with a kind smile. Ever since he came to Hogwarts they had met once a month. He would wait in the hospital wing, sometimes helping out with patients as Madam Pomfrey finished up her work for the day. Once everyone was settled in for the night he and Madam Pomfrey would make their way through the secret tunnel that led to the Shrieking Shack. Madam Pomfrey would leave a bottle of water and some chocolate in an alcove in the wall and then cast a barrier at the tunnel entrance sealing Remus in for the night. The seal would wear off by the morning and Remus would make his way to the hospital wing for Madam Pomfrey to tend to his wounds. However tonight both Remus and Madam Pomfrey were unaware that someone was following them.

After tucking his robes in the upper right hand corner of the four poster bed (he had learned previously that werewolf-Remus enjoyed shredding clothing) Remus walked forward into the middle of the room. He sighed and thought about his last excuse he had made to his friends for this month. Really? His great aunt had sent him an invisible poorly behaved rabbit, even that story sounded unbelievable to Remus. He stood there and then felt the change. He had done it so many times now the pain almost seemed manageable. Tonight was no different. The werewolf dropped onto all fours and swept his gaze around the room.

“Remus?” breathed Sirius.

The werewolf spun around and lunged at Sirius. Hitting an invisible barrier he let out a sharp yelp. Sirius had scrambled back and ran back down the corridor with the werewolf howling in his wake.

The following morning the only memory that stuck with Remus from last night was that someone else had seen him. At first he thought it had been Madam Pomfrey that had come to check on him for some reason but then he remembered that the scent told him it was a male human. Worriedly Remus hurried to the hospital wing. Rounding the corner he ran into Sirius.

  
“Oh hey mate, fancy running into you here.” said Sirius nonchalantly leaning against the wall. 

“Sirius,” said Remus. “Hi, what are you doing up so early?

"Oh you know I was out for a stroll last night. It was full moon, so you know, I was up and just kept wandering." Sirius said pushing off the wall and facing Remus. 

"You weren't in bed at all last night. Where were you?"

"Oh, um, you know, my rabbit needed a walk." said Remus blustered feebly. 

"You know I think we should feed that rabbit to a wolf." 

“Enough about the wolf boy, according to the silent healer you've been going on about the animal all night.” interrupted a voice from the portrait beside Sirius labeled “The Silent Healer”. Remus hadn’t noticed that the portrait in question had a visitor.  
Sir Cadogan as he brushed away the hands of the healer who was attempting to attend to the wound on his right shoulder. A bloody axe lay on the floor.

“I’m fine.” said Sir Cadogan. The healer stamped his foot and threw down the bloody rag while giving Sir Cadogan a most annoyed expression. Just before he stepped out of the portrait Sir Cadogan added,

“When I came around I told him that I had heard the rumors about the terrible beast terrorizing the pear down in the kitchens and she will need rescuing, I must be off.”

At that moment Madam Pomfrey opened the door.

Sirius proceeded to sit on the opposite bed and while Madam Pomfrey clean his wounds Remus told him the story of how he became a werewolf. There was a moment of silence while Sirius just looked at him, his expression unreadable and then said.

“If Greyback ever crosses my path, I’m going to kill him.”

They spoke no more of Remus’ furry little problem after that and Remus was grateful that Sirius had agreed to keep his secret. A few months later Remus was coming back from the library and his friends tackled him at the portrait hole with a blindfold.

“We’ve got a surprise for you!” James said gleefully.

“You’re to love it!” added Sirius sounded excessively excited.

“Guys.” complained Remus as he was frog-marched between James and Sirius, he could hear Peter scurrying in front of them opening a door. “It’s another week until my birthday.”

They sat him down in a chair and only released him after making him promise to only remove the blindfold after the count of 10.

“Eight, nine, ten!” Remus removed his blindfold.

In front of him was a huge black dog, a rat and a stag. Remus gaped at the creatures in astonishment and then watched, mouth still hanging open as those creatures changed back into his friends.

“Since you’d eat us if we were humans we decided that we would just hang out with you as animals ourselves.” said James grinning.

“Don’t be mad at Sirius, Peter and I practically had to force it out of him.” added James casting a slightly guilty look at Sirius.

“I mean telling them led to James coming up with the Animagus idea.” said Sirius defensively.

Remus was speechless. He had never felt the kind of love and devotion before, even his parents after his accident, although still loved him had changed around him. Wordlessly he got up pulled his friends into a tight hug.

“Okay, okay.” said Sirius untangling himself from the rest. “Yes we love you too, no need to get all emotional about it.”

They spent the rest of the evening planning on their adventure for the next full moon.

**********************************************************(end of flashback)

Like a white hole in the sky, the moon illuminated the darkness revealing cirrus clouds that swam lazily under the stars. The village of Hogsmeade was silent, a light fog misted the air. A great stag picked its way into the middle of the street bowing its head to sniff the ground. A rat fell to the ground in front of him. The stag snorted. He had forgotten about the rat who had been nestled in one of its antlers and allowed the rodent to climb back up.

A werewolf and a huge black dog came up behind them. The black dog bounded forward, howled and took off down the street. The others following close behind. The werewolf snapped at the heels of stag who whinnied. The black dog knocked the werewolf aside and growled. The stag fell behind as the wolf and dog picked up speed. He liked the black dog the best and pushed his fur into his as they ran alongside each other.  
Breathless and laughing, the marauders headed back to the shrieking shack just as a streaks of dawn light crept through the sky.


End file.
